Inside the Snow Globe
by WanderingWordsmith
Summary: Fresh from the loss of his best friends, the Doctor tries to live true to their wishes and strives to travel with company. However, his latest companion seems a little different to his usual adventuring companions.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is a fic I've been toying with in my spare time, given my nascent Whovianism.**

**Hope you enjoy it!  
**

**Wanderingwordsmith**

* * *

**Part One - Fall**

_Chapter One_

"The first time I heard that noise, I was wearing a geeky t-shirt."

"Noise?"

"Hush now. I'm talking."

* * *

"Douglas Adams. Tell me you've heard of Douglas Adams." Megan leaned on the bar and stared into her cocktail glass. It was beginning to look worryingly like her purse.

"Yes! Yes I have," said the man opposite her. A man with stubble and cigarette breath and a wallet wondrously unlike her purse, "That's the, uh, the beam me up one. Right?"

Megan groaned and abandoned the bar, throwing the last few dregs of her Blue Lagoon down her throat. Once outside, she ripped her phone from her jeans and checked her messages.

It was a surprisingly humid November night, though Megan thought that it was, in part, due to the queue to get into the club she had just left. Their collected body heat was enough to start melting the snow around the boots and heels and trainers jittering in the imagined cold. Megan shuffled past them, feeling the chill the second she was a few feet away, and alone. She ducked into the light of a nearby streetlamp and finally stole a glance at her phone's screen. No new messages, bar one from her mother. Her blood alcohol content suggested to her that responding might not be a good idea, so she locked it. She caught her blurred reflection, her earth brown hair and faded blue eyes.

Something warm brushed past her leg. Megan chanced a startled glance down to find a cat, staring up at her. A nearby street lamp caught its eyes, turning dull green into brilliant emerald. Megan grinned, saying "Hey there," as she kneeled to stroke it.

The stray, however, had other plans and lashed out, catching her hand with a fierce swipe. She stifled a curse as it fled. She examined her finger. The claw had cut surprisingly deep, and was already beading with blood. Megan sucked her finger and stashed her phone. Mother could wait; she had thoughts of a stray cat to seethe over, hopefully enough to distract her from the cold walk home.

It was then that three noises, three utterly different noises, very nearly stopped her heart. The first was a rasping sound from down a nearby alley, like something grasping at the oxygen and wheezing its way around. It sounded ancient, mechanical, and with each pulse the sound grew louder and more certain of its existence.

The second and third noises were far less profound; a door opening and slamming, followed swiftly by a man's vehement complaints. Megan tilted her head towards the din.

"You did not just kick me out! So what if the atom accelerator jams once in a while – old things get quirky!"

Megan crept a bit closer. She just about heard the sound of a lock turning.

"Okay, okay, that's how we're playing it. You're not old, you're experienced. Is that better? Can I come in and fix you now?"

Whoever locked the complaining man out didn't respond. He jettisoned several more garbled complaints but eventually stopped. "Fine. Fine fine fine. I'll give you some space. Where am I, anyway?"

Curiosity seized her hesitation, and abandoning all other thoughts Megan rounded the corner to see a man, just taller than she, spinning around with his tongue out. The only other peculiar object – and thus, she assumed, the object of his chagrin – was a phone box unlike any she'd ever seen.

"Nohemher!" shouted the man, his tongue still out, "Hough so!"

Apprehension clouded her initial drive. This man was either incredibly drunk or incredibly crazy – or both. She started to back away, but her foot tapped an empty bottle and it skittered across the pavement.

Like a rocket the peculiar man span, his feet jittering in an almost vain attempt to find purchase on freezing concrete. "Hello!"

Megan backed away by a few steps. "Uh... Hi?"

"Where am I?"

"What?"

"Where am I?" the man was wearing a suede jacket, suspenders, and above all else, a bowtie. The case for crazy was building at a steadily climbing pace, "I know when I am but this alley's one of the boring ones."

Megan wasn't quite sure if she should laugh or take offence. "You're... in Manchester?"

"Manchester!" the man yelled, "Manchester! November 2011."

"Twelve."

"What?"

"It's 2012."

The man's maniacal grin faded a little bit. Megan seized the silence to state her confusion. "You were shouting at a box."

"Huh?"

"That box, there." Megan pointed at the fantastic blue elephant in the alley.

His head whipped back so fast she thought it might spin full circle. "Oh. That's not a box. Well, it _is_. Sort of."

"It's a blue cuboid thing, then. And what's that on the front?"

"It's a sign!" said the man, with a large degree of pride, "It's a police call box!"

"They still exist?"

"'Course they do. You're looking at one, aren't you?"

"But you were shouting at it," Megan reiterated. The man seemed slightly befuddled, as if shouting at it were a regular occurrence.

"I shout at a lot of things when they decide to _evict_ me!"

The last two words were directed, once more, at the box. Megan began to seriously doubt her decision to pursue a conversation with him. "Evict? An inanimate object can do that?"

"They can do much worse," said he, "But! Moving on, no time like the present - who're you?"

Something beyond her rational thought summoned an answer. "Megan."

"Megan!" The dark hindered the expression on the man's square-jawed mouth. She thought it was a grimace, but he carried on talking before offence could settle. "Megan. The Tuesday morning of names."

"Riiiight. And you are?"

The confident smirk was far easier to discern. "I'm the Doctor. And basically... I'm stuck here."

* * *

For some mad, impossible reason, Megan had led this man, this stranger, this 'Doctor' to her university campus. The realisation dawned on her as they reached the sign post, causing her to stop dead and not move for some time.

The Doctor, a few steps behind, didn't say anything. Instead he looked around, taking in Manchester as if he were a child in a museum.

"You're a stranger," Megan announced, rounding on him.

"So are you," he rebuked without skipping a beat.

"You could be an alien, or a monster, or a murderer!"

"So could you." he smiled, tone quiet, giving her room to take it all in. She inhaled. The Doctor's eyes began to wander. She considered him; his slightly crooked legs, skinny trousers, thin arms and generally distracted demeanour. He certainly didn't _seem_ like a murderer, but that's how things always played out.

"What do you need?" she asked.

"Just something to do until my... vehicle... sorts herself out."

"Your vehicle as in that phone box?"

"Yep!"

"How can you-" Megan scrunched her eyes. The tiny amount alcohol floating in her body clung to the gears in her brain like syrup. "Why should I help you?"

"Because, Megan," the Doctor spoke, assuring, very much like his namesake would have, "You said I could be an alien first."

Megan furrowed her brow and started walking just to drag her thoughts away from the exponentially multiplying questions in her mind. "Okay. Okay. How long will that take?"

"Not long!" The Doctor sped up until he was at her side, "She's got a few gears to adjust, some systems to tinker with. She gets like this now and then."

They approached the library. The Doctor grinned. It was late, but the door still unlocked when Megan presented her student card. "So! Megan. Megan who?"

"You first. Doctor who? And of what?"

"Just the Doctor. And lots of things. Physics, medicine, cheese-making..."

"Wh- cheese-making?"

"It's harder than it looks," he replied, gesturing like that one elderly science teacher she had in primary school.

He inspected the library like he had the city. "Manchester 2012..." was the whisper on his lips, "What a time."

"Huh? What's that? Actually, never mind. How is that box your vehicle?"

"I travel in her. She moves around and takes me along - sometimes she even goes where I want. She's my vehicle."

"Okay..."

Megan walked over to the nearest desk and sat down, setting her purse on the table. Some books lay scattered on the plastic surface, from the previous visitors. The Doctor snatched the closest and flicked through it. He grunted upon reaching the end seconds later. "Why a library, Megan?"

"It beats my room, as far as 'places to take a complete stranger who shouts at travelling boxes'."

"Good point. Nice library," the Doctor nodded, "Seen bigger."

He picked up a second book. Then a third. Megan shook her head and blurted, "Are you an alien?"

"What makes you ask that?"

A question answered with a question. She hung her head. "For starters, a police box is your 'vehicle'. Next you talk about it evicting you or some rubbish, and finally-"

The Doctor looked down at her, his nose poking over the rim of yet another book. "Yes?"

"Well, uh, look at you! You're not the sort of person you see wandering around at any time. Except maybe at a convention."

"Maybe I'm from a convention." She scowled. The Doctor arched his eyebrow, teasing.

"There aren't any tonight," was the counter, "If there was I'd be there."

"Ah. Yes. That explains... the T-shirt."

"Eh?" Megan looked down at the stylised text on her chest. 'The _Guide _is definitive. Reality is frequently inaccurate.'

"Douglas Adams," answered he.

"You know Adams?"

"Dougie! 'Course! I explained the hazards of Vogon poetry to him. That, and, we _might _have actually made the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster."

Megan's brain imploded, or exploded, or _something. _It rendered her incapable of a rational response. The Doctor returned to flicking through the books, eventually migrating to a nearby shelf. "You're crazy," she eventually, finally, summarised,

"Undoubtedly!" A grin spread across his face faster than he turned the pages. Megan groaned.

She heard the hiss of a well-oiled hinge. Her phone read 3AM; strange that there should be another late night visitor.

The Doctor saw the visitor first, and asked the strangest question yet. "Do you have a pet?"

"No, they aren't allowed on campus. Why?"

"You have a stray friend."

Megan looked past the Doctor. A cat sat a few feet away. A cat with emerald eyes. The cut on her finger tingled. "I know that cat."

"That cat knows you," he replied, "Awfully curious for a stray, don't you think?"

It took a few steps forward, fixated on Megan's hand. The Doctor looked back at her. "It's been following you. You feeding it?"

"No! Why would I feed a stray?"

"I don't know! Just eliminating the obvious reasons for a stalker."

The cat hissed, exhaling a mote of grey gas. The Doctor stared, eyes wide. "Megan."

"Yeah?"

"Run."

"From what- the cat?"

"From what's inside it."

"Don't be ridiculous!" Megan gestured at the cat. "What can a cat do besides bite? Or scratch?"

"A bit like how big libraries can be lethal, a cat is lethal if... there's something inside it."

It hissed again, spouting more gas. The Doctor backed away towards her. "We need to go," he stressed, flexing his hands, "Trust me."

Megan stared at him, incredulity spreading over her face. "You're mental."

She felt his hand on her wrist and then they were past the creature, through the doors and back on the streets of Manchester. "Hey! Hold on!"

Megan snapped her head back and saw the cat stare at them through the window. They ran blindly until her lungs caved and she dragged him to a stop. "I think- I thi- Jesus you run-"

"Yes I run! And it would be a very good idea if you ran too!" The Doctor cast an eye back to the library. Even in the slight distance he could see the cat. Behind it, a security guard approached.

"Is it following us?" panted Megan.

"No... that's strange." He ran his fingers though his hair. "What are you up to?"

"Catching my bre-"

"Not you!" Megan pursed her lips. "The thing inside the cat- I think it's an Eknodine but. But... No! Oh no!"

"What _now_?" She cried, but the Doctor had already seized her wrist and they were running again. "What's going on?"

He didn't answer until they came to a tall apartment complex. Megan recognised it as her university's accommodation. "The cat- that thing inside the cat- is an Eknodine. They steal bodies to extend their lifespan."

"So that's an alien?"

"More or less. Last time I saw one was... I was dreaming. Now! We need to put some distance between it and us."

"Okay," Megan nodded, deciding now would be a good time to roll with the punches, "So... I know! A cat can't open locked doors, right?"

The Doctor tilted his head. Megan pointed to the building. "Only students can get in there. It's where they live, so I just need my-"

She made to grab her a purse, but it was nowhere to be found. Megan closed her eyes. It hadn't bounced at all as they ran. The last place she remembered it was... "Ah."

"Card in your purse?" the Doctor assumed, with a wry smile, "Humans. So scatter-brained. Never mind."

A whirring filled her ears, followed by a beep. He pulled the door open. "After you."

"How did you?"

"Easy to break a lock when you've got this." He waggled a thick, silver rod in front of her face. "Come on!"

They pushed into the halls. Megan watched as the Doctor pointed his device at the electronic lock. It beeped again, the LED shining red. "Deadlocked. That should buy us, ooh, ten or twenty minutes. Where's your room?"

"Fourth floor, why?"

"Brilliant! Up we go!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

"Wow."

"What?" Megan asked. The Doctor stood by her door, having locked it like he had the entrance.

"University accommodation," he breathed, "One of the smallest worlds known to humanity so far!"

"Eh?"

"Look at it! Posters and books and clothes and everything a person needs to express who they are. A super-condensed speck just bursting with individuality. Beautiful."

"I see. In that case, welcome to my world." The Doctor grinned and explored Megan's room, drinking in the posters, the messed bed and scattered clothes. She nudged a piece of underwear under her bed before he noticed it. "I said I wasn't going to take you here."

"Funny how things change," he murmured, that childish grin forcing questions of his mental stability once more into Megan's thoughts, "Now, this is where I normally explain what's going on, but seeing as we've got some time why don't we have a little chat?"

"Sure, sure," she replied with unusual calm, "What's that?"

"This?" He lifted the silver device up so she could see it. The claw-like tip glowed an eerie green. "It's a sonic screwdriver."

"A _screwdriver_?"

"That's sonic." The Doctor reiterated, emphasising the 'sonic'.

"How does that work? It makes a noise and things lock?"

"Or unlock, or transmit, or stick or... melt. It does a few things."

"But you're a doctor, right?" He nodded. Megan scrunched her eyes. "You're a doctor with a sonic screwdriver. Shouldn't you have, like, a laser syringe or a radio scalpel?"

"Now that would be silly. What good's a radio scalpel?"

"A screwdriver's for engineering stuff, though!" protested Megan, "You're not an engineer!"

"No, and I'm not _a _doctor, either. I'm _the _Doctor. That's my name. The Doctor. The definitive article."

"How is that-"

"My turn." The Doctor met her eye with a smug grin. "You said I could be an alien. Why?"

"Is that important?" she rebuked.

"It's very important," his reply caught her off-guard for a second, "What makes you think I'm an alien?"

She paused, letting the silence sink in like a balm before continuing. "That's not modern tech you've got there," Megan pointed at his screwdriver, "I've never even heard of sound opening doors. Unless it's a voice-locked thing."

"Ah. So it wasn't the box."

"That... was a large hint," she admitted, "Where did you get that gadget?"

The Doctor paused, stopping himself from answering just long enough to hear a banging on the door. "It's here."

"You sure?"

"A locked door's fine but you can still break a window. Clever Eknodine."

Another knock, heavier than the last, like the hand striking the wood was still gauging its strength. "So the cat smashed a window," Megan whispered. Her hand itched.

"It's not in a cat any more, it's found a body. A human body."

"So we're trapped."

"I prefer inconveniently circumstanced. I thought I'd have enough time for the TARDIS to fix herself but-"

The door rocked violently. "TARDIS?"

"My box, no time to explain. What cleaning products do you have?"

"You're making-"

"Didn't I just say there's no time? _What have you got_?"

"Um," Megan darted to the cupboard under the sink, "Bleach?"

"Too goopy," the Doctor answered, his eyes locked on the rattling door.

"Colour catchers?"

"No."

"Washing tablets?"

"Nope."

"Air freshener?"

"Not a- wait! Yes! Gimme!"

She threw the can at him then backed away. "Ready?" asked the Doctor, preparing to unlock the door with his sonic screwdriver.

"No!"

"Excellent." Whirr. _Click_.

The door flew open. Over the Doctor's shoulder, Megan recognised one of the many security guards that wandered around campus. He stared at the strange man in Megan's room. "Hello!" said the Doctor, and he introduced himself.

"I know who you are." The security guard's mouth didn't move. His voice - or at least, _a _voice - rumbled through closed lips. "You are early."

"Really?" the Doctor answered, "Fashionably, I hope?"

"You are early." Megan watched the unmoving mouth with mounting horror. It was slight, barely visible, but - was something _moving _behind them?

"Okay. Still struggling with the vocal chords?" His grip on the air freshener tightened marginally. "Must be hard jumping from species to species. Don't you lot stick to one person?"

No response. The Doctor's happy sway slowed. "Alright then. You said I was early. That means I'm expected at some point but not now, which _means_ that you're after Megan. Why? What's she for - or more importantly, what's that cut on her finger? Your work, I presume."

"Doctor," Megan interjected. The security guard's mouth creaked and cracked, forced apart by something moving forward.

"What?"

"S-something's..." he turned to her, then back, seeing the single emerald eye peeking though blackened teeth.

"Questions later then! _Run_!"

The Doctor flicked his wrist up, aiming and spraying the air freshener in one blinding motion. The guard - or the Eknodine, as the Doctor called it - stumbled back from the barrage of odour, giving the pair enough time to duck past and dash madly for the stairs.

They came to a stop at the foot of the stairwell, the Doctor bounding over the last few steps. "Show me your hand."

Megan did so without protest; mostly because she was too tired to do so. He paid particular attention to the nick on her finger; which, to Megan's surprise, refused to stop bleeding. It dripped steady ruby beads. "Anti-coagulant," the Doctor analysed, "Hmm."

"Weird?" Megan surmised, doing her best to force skepticism.

"If an Eknodine wanted to kill you it would spit gas that dissolves anything organic. This one scratched you, and it wants that wound open because... Because..."

His face fell in realisation. Megan tilted her head. "Because...?"

"Good thing I'm early," he began. Footsteps echoing on the stairwell dragged them back into fleeing as he explained, "That Eknodine knew I was coming- knew I would meet you, so it was going to take over your body."

"But you got here early?" she panted.

"The TARDIS malfunctioned and I've landed here. Why? _Why_?" He stopped and looked Megan over. "You were going to be a trap. Designed by who?"

A door flew open behind them. The Doctor's eyes flew back to their pursuer. Heat flared in his breast pocket. "Doctor!" Megan screeched.

"Don't panic, I have a plan! Keep moving!"

This time they wound around corridors until they located another door. The Doctor deadlocked it behind them and dragged Megan around the corner. The campus stretched out before them. "Not done this for a while," the Doctor mused.

"Eh?" Megan chanced a glance back. The Eknodine stood a few feet away, hindered by the deadlock.

"I need to get back to the TARDIS, but if we go together then the Eknodine'll just stay here and kill people so! You take this."

He held out his sonic screwdriver. Megan's jaw slackened. "You're kidding. I don't even know how to use it!"

"Point and click," the Doctor demonstrated before forcing it into her hands, "It's got a psychic interface so it'll behave, unlike some tech I have."

"B-but what do I-"

"You're still the bait. The Eknodine wants you and it wants you alive. Find some place high, lure it up there, and jump off the edge. I'll catch you using the TARDIS."

"_What_?"

"Trust me!"

"Why? Why should I?"

The Doctor scrunched his brow. "Megan, you said I could be an alien first. You're human- you have that instinct, that curiosity, that _trust_ in the unknown. You don't look up and see the stars, you look up and see uncountable civilisations and peoples, and right now one of them is asking you to trust him. Just... have a little faith. Have faith in an alien."

Megan stared at him, bewildered. The Doctor saw the answer in her eyes, smiled, turned to hurry away. "But you're mad!" she screamed after him, "You're a madman! With a- with a box!"

"And a screwdriver!" he shouted in reply. He disappeared, rounding the corner. Megan watched the space where he had been just a second ago, gripping the sonic screwdriver. It was heavier than she imagined.

A smash echoed behind her. The Eknodine had broken the window and now began to clamber through, manipulating its host with more precision than before. "Just... Have a little faith," she whispered, facing it as she backed away. When it jumped to its feet, she turned and ran. Ran as fast as she could towards the one safe place she could think of right now.

Soles burning and breath ragged, she reached the door to the library. Megan took hold of the sonic screwdriver. Pointed. Clicked.

It took a second of whirring but the lock beeped. Something grander than a thrill tugged at her lips. It worked! She wrenched the door open. Her fear dissipated with every step. _Have a little faith! Have a little faith!_

The Eknodine's footsteps grew in volume. Megan knew the library back to front - there was roof access somewhere. She weaved through the shelving to buy her memory time. Where was it?

"Stop!" the command came from another guard. She cursed, "What the hell is going on here?"

He approached Megan just as the Eknodine rounded the corner. "I know you - I thought volunteers finished at six?"

The roof access sat just behind him. The guard looked to his possessed colleague. "Pete? Where'd you run off to?"

He brushed past Megan, who span rapidly. Already, the green eyestalk of the Eknodine forced his mouth open. "Get away from him!" she yelled.

"Is... that a gob-stopper you've got there?" asked he. The Eknodine spat grey gas from Pete's mouth. The second the guard breathed it is, he started to... granulate. Megan watched with mounting horror as the guard fell to the floor as a pile of dust. Fear began to rise again but she pounded the energy into running to the roof. Fortunately the door opened without resistance. She began climbing seconds before the Eknodine resumed its chase. She held the sonic screwdriver in her sweaty palm, prepared for the inevitably locked door to the roof.

There it was! _Have a little faith!_ Her mind screamed as she pointed and clicked and prayed for the lock to break, and it dutifully clacked open. Megan threw herself into the bracing winter winds just as the Eknodine joined her at the door.

She made for the edge with purposeful steps, facing the Eknodine without fear for the first time. It didn't bother hiding now, eye glowing freely, eerily in the dark.

"Why do you want me?" she asked, over a gust that chilled her bones. A few more steps and she be ready to leap. "Why am I the bait? I don't know the Doctor!"

"The Eleventh must fall." The Eknodine stepped forward stoically. Megan's foot slipped on an errant patch of ice. Looking back revealed a gap that was just steep enough to kill.

"This is my body," she returned. Her voice grew firmer alongside her resolve, "You can't have it!"

Its response sounded smug, if an alien was capable of such a thing. "What will you do, human?" the Eknodine increased its pace, running towards her now.

Megan smiled, leant back.

"Have a little faith."

And jumped.

The gale filled her ears and for one brief, shadowed moment, she doubted the madman with a box.

But then a splash replaced the howling and Megan found herself underwater. More specifically, as her frayed instincts and shot reason propelled her to the surface, Megan found herself in a _swimming pool_.

_Surrounded by books_.

She cast her head about until she noticed the Doctor, one hand extended and the other grasping a small bundle of towels, squatting at the nearest edge. "Welcome aboard."

* * *

The next hand of minutes flew past in a daze as the Doctor guided Megan from the library-slash-swimming-pool to a wardrobe that seemed, for all intents and purposes, to be another world. There she dried off, changed, and took a moment to marvel. The corridors they walked along stretched for miles, and connected to rooms that stretched for even further. For all its modern technology it seemed ancient - occasionally there would be a wheeze or a groan, a sigh amongst invisible cogs, wires that weren't quite covered, functions that didn't quite compute.

A thought struck her. "Doctor?"

He was right outside. "Yep?"

"Where did that thing go? The Eknodine?"

"It fell. We dematerialised as soon as you entered, so it probably died along with its host," he sniffed, shook his head, "Not the most graceful way to go, but at least it won't be dissolving people."

"I see." She recalled the pile of dust, shivered. Satisfied with her clothing choices - jumper, jeans, trainers - Megan stepped out with the sonic screwdriver in hand. "It got a bit, um, wet."

"It's seen worse," he assured, plucking it from her grasp and giving it an experimental click.

"How did you know where I was jumping off?"

"Sonic technology's easy to spot in this day and age. Picked it up on the scanner and set the TARDIS up for the minute before you jumped."

"Oh. Wait." The Doctor smiled. He loved that moment. The glitter in her eye that Megan, even as she placed her faith in the Doctor, couldn't help but doubt. "The minute... _before_?"

"Didn't I mention that I had a time machine?"

"You said you had a vehicle, but- but a time machine? Seriously?"

"Seriously. She's a bit... temperamental, but the TARDIS is a vehicle that can time travel. It's in the name! Time And Relative Dimension In Space."

Once more, her mind imploded and exploded. Seeing her clothed, the Doctor grinned. "Wanna see?"

They carried on walking, past doors and halls and uncountable rooms. Upon reaching a final set of doors, the Doctor span, blocking the way. "What?" asked Megan.

"Welcome to my world."

He threw himself back, bouncing into a great dome. Megan stepped forward, jaw slack. Thick pillars of coral supported a sheet-metal roof that seemed more stuffed together than actually constructed. At the peak sat a great cylinder of glass, housing a bulb that rose and fell in great sighs. Surrounding it, a console of odds and ends; door handles, desk bells, pumps and pistons and buttons and a number of mechanical inputs Megan couldn't put names to.

"This is your box," she breathed. The Doctor nodded, "This is your... that blue box you were shouting at."

He nodded again. Megan gulped. "It's-"

"Bigger on the insi-"

"_Orange_," Megan finished. He looked back at her.

"I'm sorry?"

"It's orange," she repeated, "Were you looking at a colour wheel when you picked _orange_? I mean sure, it's a complimentary colour, but... orange and blue. Really?"

The Doctor clenched his jaw. "I like it when people say it's bigger on the inside."

He jumped up to the console and flicked the controls in what Megan thought to be a random order. The centre bulb wheezed in response. "So this is your time machine. The TARDIS?" she said, finding herself forcing the preposterous sentence from her lips.

"Yep!"

"So... are we still on the side of the library?"

"See for yourself." He waved a hand absently at the door on one side of the console room. Megan approached it with no small amount of trepidation. After all, the chipped wood door hardly seemed space-worthy. Or time-worthy, whatever that meant. She fingered the handle cautiously. "Go on!" he urged.

Megan threw one last glance back at the madman, then finally conceded to her curiosity and pushed it open.

The blackness of space swamped her vision. For a moment she wanted to throw the door closed, but her continued breathing gave Megan the confidence to keep looking. A canvas, or a curtain, some people called it, but there it was; the interminable void, the gulf of a thousand-million stars screaming for her eyes to notice their shimmer. "We're - where are we?" she shouted back at the Doctor.

"Oop! Sorry, I'll swing her 'round."

The TARDIS span in place, granting Megan a full view of her home. Earth, an orb of water and rock swallowed by shifting white. "Earth," announced the Doctor, suddenly on the steps behind her, "November the 8th, 2012. Exactly thirty minutes after you jumped off the roof of the library."

"Huh." The Doctor watched Megan carefully. How her fingers and eyes moved, trying to grasp a reaction or a word - something to use, to express. Finding her failing, as a few normally did, he chuckled and clapped her shoulder. They returned to the console, him closing the door with a snap of his fingers, her gripping the railings for support. "What now?" she asked, unsteadily.

"Well..." he hummed, fiddling with the controls again. The TARDIS began to wheeze once more.

"You erase my memory and leave me to carry on?" she assumed. The Doctor shook his head.

"Oh, Megan. Tuesday morning Megan," he said, stopping his fiddling to stand in front of her, "It's time to stop living in your books."

She met his eyes. "What d'you mean?"

"Come with me," he suggested casually, "If you want."

"No memory erasure?"

"No memory erasure."

"You just... take me with you," she ran the thought threw her head. Something stirred in her. A clicking, like puzzle pieces locking together.

"Across all of time and space," The Doctor explained, "Everything that ever happened and ever will."

"But people'll notice me missing!" she protested.

He laughed. "Come on, Megan! It's a time machine! I could get you back for five minutes ago-"

The Doctor froze. Those words took a knife to his smile. He pushed it back onto his face. "How about it?"

Megan thumbed her jumped, chewed her lip for some time. Her mind clicked into a shining moment of clarity. "Where do I sign?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Part Two - Ghosts**

_Chapter Three_

"So what exactly do you do?" asked Megan, leaning over the railing of the TARDIS console room. "I mean, do you just travel?"

"What do you mean 'just travel'?" the Doctor replied with a sneer, like she'd just called his vehicle a hunk of scrap, "It's a _time _machine. Just travelling is, like, I don't know, being an astronaut for you. Except you don't get the cool spacesuit. Unless you want one. D'you want a spacesuit?"

"I'm quite alright."

He turned back to the controls, evidently discontented by the fact that they wouldn't be wearing spacesuits. "But yes, we just travel. So! One pit stop and we're off."

"Pit stop?"

"That rejig drained the power a fair bit. The TARDIS is gonna need to refuel."

"This thing needs fuel?"

Something hissed on the console, drawing the Doctor's attention. "Any vehicle needs fuel!" he shouted, his back to her as he fidgeted, "And the TARDIS is not 'this thing'!"

Another system hissed. He hurried over to it and soothed it with a few adjustments. Megan could have sworn she heard him whisper "Sorry dear, she's new to this..." as he did so.

"So what does the TARDIS need? Petrol?"

"That would be ridiculous," he replied, "She needs time."

"Time."

"Artron energy specifically. The gales of the Time Vortex, all packed up into little atto-Omegas that the TARDIS just can't resist. It powers her engines, keeps us from tearing a hole in spacetime, and is very, _very _good for making toast."

He spouted more jargon than her favourite novels. She nodded, dazed. "So... where do we get that?"

"Anywhere really - hotspots are dotted throughout time and space, rifts and bumps and holes that all leak the stuff. This time... well, let's make a show of it, shall we?" The Doctor smiled ecstatically and threw one of the larger levels. Everything around them rocked and Megan nearly fell to the ground, had she not gripped the railing. The nauseating bursts of motion and the groaning of the engines knotted her stomach.

"Is this supposed to happen?" she yelled over the din.

"Of course!" laughed the Doctor, making a frantic circuit of the console, pushing every button, pulling every level, twisting every dial. Megan clutched the rail as tight as she could as the TARDIS saw fit to careen every which way, tossing her from side to side.

She fell on her back as the TARDIS came to a juddering halt, as quickly as it started. "Up you get!" the Doctor exclaimed, pulling her up by the arm, "You'll get used to it."

"I don't think I want to," she protested, "You told me to get out of my books, but I've yet to meet a book that tried to throw me out."

"Good thing this isn't a book." Megan heaved a sigh. The Doctor bounced off to the door, opening it and sticking his head out.

"Atmosphere! Breathable - bit of a smell though - if I'm right, we're a few miles away from the nearest civilisation."

"A few miles?"

"Can't land the most powerful spaceship on the universe on someone's doorstep. Imagine how they'd feel! Now, it's a bit dark, so we'll need some light... um..."

He shut the door and started rummaging, whizzing around the console and circling Megan more than half a dozen times in search of something. After the fourth circuit Megan tired of watching the hyperactive madman and indulged her curiosity, opening the door and peering outside.

"Doctor?"

"Yep?"

"You know when you said it was a bit dark?"

"Mhm?"

"It's pitch black."

"Indeed it is! Hence the need for a torch. Aha!"

The Doctor popped to Megan's side, large torch in hand. He switched it on and gave it an experimental twirl around the area. The light stretched on for a fair while, but never reached a wall in any direction. The floor was there, of course - hard grey stone stood out against the TARDIS's blue exterior. "Why is it so dark?" said Megan, "I mean, if we're outside, shouldn't there be moonlight if it was dark?"

"I said we were a few miles away from the nearest civilisation." The Doctor wore a cheeky grin. "I may not have been using the conventional meaning of away."

"Say what?"

"We're actually a few miles _beneath_ the nearest civilisation." He elaborated. "Sorry for the confusion."

"Beneath? Like, in a cave?"

"I think so - hang on, I'll get a bigger light."

The Doctor handed Megan his torch. More rummaging erupted behind her. Too wary to leave the safety of the TARDIS, Megan contented herself with exploring the cave with the light. Her attention fixated on the only visible object. "The stone's awfully smooth for a cave," she announced.

"Good point!" The Doctor sounded strained; turning back, she saw him buried in a storage cabinet underneath the main console. "Could be constructed - can you see anything else?"

"Not from here."

"Take a few steps out, see what you can find. Now where is that grav globe...?"

"Seriously?" Megan arched an eyebrow, "You want me to take a step out onto an alien cave, on my own, and have a look around?"

"What's wrong with that?"

"Have you seen any horror movie ever produced?"

"Too much fear for my liking." The Doctor chuckled quietly. "Life, in my not inconsiderable experience, is a lot stranger than fiction. So go and be brave! No need to worry, I'm right here."

His words failed to hearten Megan. Regardless, she took her first step out of the TARDIS - moving from the comforting orange to hard, cold grey. The step alone proved too little to widen the torch's vision; it only moved her out of her comfort zone. "What do you think this is?" she called back.

"Find out for yourself!" he replied, "Never been here before. Why don't you find some answers? Ah!"

Once more the Doctor joined her side, this time carrying a translucent football. It glimmered softly in his arm. "Knew I had one lying around somewhere."

"One what?"

"This'll help us find out where we are." With no warning, the Doctor dropped the ball and hoofed it with what Megan could only describe as a pitifully awkward kick. Regardless, the ball rocketed skywards, erupting into a great nova of light that filled the cavern far more effectively than the torch. It stopped at the peak of its trajectory, bobbing as if suspended by a glob of treacle some ten metres overhead. "How'sat?"

"Nice," Megan breathed. The Doctor clapped his hands together, pleased with their newfound clarity of vision. The cavern floor stretched out for some distance in every direction, before curving up into a perfectly smooth dome overhead.

"Definitely man-made." He seemed to speak his mental notes aloud, for his eyes never once met Megan's, nor did he open up for discussion. "Fine craftsmanship, bit dull, and... ooh, that explains the smell."

"What smell?" Megan sniffed the air, but besides the gritty odour of the cavern, nothing seemed out of place. She looked to the Doctor, following his gaze until she, too, saw it. At the far end of the cavern, a fair hand of metres away, a brutal crack in the otherwise perfect semi-sphere lay unlit by the orb above them.

No, Megan thought as she scrutinized it. The crack wasn't unlit - it consumed the light, swallowing every photon the orb threw at it. The Doctor wrinkled his nose, taking a few paces towards the phenomenon. "That thing there is a Rift. One of those bumps I mentioned. But, it's strange..."

"Yes, it is," Megan agreed flatly. Seeing a tear in the fabric of the universe was hardly a normal sight.

"No no no, it's strange for a Rift," said the Doctor. Some inscrutable thought process blazed behind his eye, left unknown to Megan, for a voice that belonged to neither of them rung out in the otherwise silent hall.

"You're here!"

They span in unison; Megan out of fright, the Doctor out of fascination. Another person, shorter than them both, dressed in robes coloured similarly to the cavern, with glossy steel eyes, approached with tempered excitement. "It's really you, isn't it?"

"Who, me?" Megan inquired. A raised arm in front of her served as the Doctor's only order. He moved forward, matching the caution of the grey person.

"You recognise me?" Neither arrogance nor joy fuelled his words. A shadow of subtle aggression hung over them, clear for all to see, like a hound spotted in the night.

"The Man of Ghosts," the grey person announced, relaxing his stance, "We've been expecting you."

* * *

The Doctor and Megan followed the grey man, who refused to introduce himself, up a slope that lay hidden just out of reach of the gravity globe's rays. It curled around the edge of the cavern, before turning sharply left and plunging them once more into total darkness.

"Where are we going?" Megan hissed, unsure if she should let the grey man hear her concerns. The Doctor responded in equally hushed tones.

"Up."

"You needn't fear," the grey man added, voice clear, very nearly deadpan. "I mean you no harm. I am simply following directions."

Without light, the only indicator of any distance was the gentle upwards incline of their path, and the number of steps Megan counted out to prevent fear from taking deeper root. "What did he call you? 'The Man of Ghosts'?"

"He did," said he, "And something tells me I shouldn't find out what that means."

"Why not?"

"You've seen your horror movies."

A lump stuck in Megan's throat. "How did you know I was coming?" The Doctor asked the grey man.

"We've seen you. Since our earliest ancestors, we've seen the Man of Ghosts bringing light to the Gap."

"Ahhh." Did interest spark in his voice? Megan marvelled at his ability to change so rapidly. "So you're time-sensitive!"

"Eh?" Megan quickly shut her mouth, hoping to avoid yet another cryptic information dump from her spacetime tour guide. No such luck.

"Humans only see time as a strict progression. Cause, effect, cause, effect. You look at it like you see everything - moving forward. Try as you might to imagine the past, you can never truly _see_ it. This man - his species, I presume - can do that. Look forwards and back. Left and right at the same time. Probably because of the artron energy emanating from that Rift - the Gap, did you call it?"

"Indeed."

As the darkness lifted slightly, banished by a sliver of light a small distance away, Megan made out the Doctor's unmistakeably boyish flailing, like he'd just stumbled across a chest full of diamonds. "Time-sensitive species are so very rare. Some can smell artron energy, others are aware of it, but so very few use that stuff in their biology. Rare is the person that can see through time without aid of a machine or natural phenomena. I've only met a handful of them, and I've met a lot of species. What do you call yourselves?"

"We are the People," spoke the grey man.

"Ah," he didn't wait for Megan's confusion to explain, "Understandable that they'd keep things simple. You see, time-sensitive-"

"We have arrived." Megan sighed with relief, unable to take anymore expository babbling. The sliver erupted, silhouetting the grey man and the Doctor, blinding the latter and Megan for a few moments.

When their vision returned, a site of simplicity greeted them. Houses - huts, they would be better described as - carved straight out of the stone, as if the People had found a mountain and whittled it down into houses and basins. Other villagers came to greet the grey man, looking and dressing exactly as he did. She heard the Doctor mutter something like 'Of course', and made to request answers, had he not been swamped by the People.

"He is here!"

"The Man of Ghosts!"

"You've arrived at last."

He shrunk in the rays of veneration, raising his hands and signalling jerkily for calm. "Yes, the Man of Ghosts is here. Now, if I could have just one moment, who... am I supposed to be, exactly?"

A man, indistinguishable from the grey man were it not for the wrinkles lining his face, stepped through the crowd to greet the Doctor. He spoke with grumbling authority, a voice hardened by the ages, weathered like the stone around them. "The Man of Ghosts, the one who brings light to the Gap. Time follows you like a shroud."

"Travelling through time does that to you," the Doctor said, "I presume you're the head of the People?"

The wrinkled man continued as if the Doctor remained silent. "We can see it, and those that lie under its shadow."

"Oh." Megan watched as his expression morphed again, from one of curiosity to grave concern. "Man of Ghosts indeed. Is that important?"

"What followed you is immaterial," the wrinkled man explained, though it shed light of very little indeed, "The moments that come are why we have waited for you."

"Something to do with the Gap?"

"Our home bleeds, Man of Ghosts."

"The Doctor's fine."

The wrinkled man inclined his head. "Very well, Doctor. As I was saying. Something within the Gap is drawing our blood away. In our fading visions, your arrival has been the only constant."

"Blood?" Megan blurted, "I thought it was aron energy or whatever you said."

"Artron," he corrected, "And it's the same difference to the People. Artron energy is part of their biology, it's in everything they do, they've evolved steeped in the stuff. Losing that would be a fish losing water."

"Okay, so..." Megan chewed her lip, "So what exactly?"

"They've seen us coming since their earliest days. The entire species can look forwards and back through history. Every moment, every iteration of the past and the future and yet we're the only constant, the only event in their history that never changes. That can mean only one thing."

He turned slowly back to Megan, his expression ever a confusing amalgam of a thousand emotions. "Whatever happens today, whatever we do, whatever the Man of Ghosts does, will _always _happen."

* * *

Guided by the grey man, and followed by the wrinkled man, the Doctor and Megan returned to the cavern where the Gap and the TARDIS waited. "What did you mean back there? I thought time travel meant you could change the past? Or the future. Is this the past or the future?"

"In normal circumstances, yes, but there are... moments. Events that always happen, nation-defining decisions, world-shaping cataclysms, things that must always happen in the timestream of an individual, or in this case a species. Fixed points that can - no, _must_ - must never, ever change. "

"So visiting here is a big deal?"

"Very big. The biggest deal in all of this timestream. Whatever's caused the Gap to change at it has, it's also drawn us here to do something. Excuse me for a moment."

The Doctor hooked a sudden right, entering the TARDIS. The fear of being stranded drove Megan to follow. "We're not leaving, are we?"

"Of course not!" the Doctor assured, "I need to find out what's in the Gap, and my eyes are only so good.

A monitor swung around the console to the panel he worked at. He grabbed it and pulled it down to eye level, and whatever it told him brought a frustrated hum. "Normal readings - that should be a normal Rift. Usual levels of artron energy, but you'd expect for those levels a much bigger crack..."

He popped his head out of the door, where both of the People waited with almost divine patience. "How big was the Gap originally?"

"It used to span the cavern," spoke the grey man, "It has slowly shrank over generations."

"Shrank?" he exclaimed, "Cracks in time don't just shrink, they're, well, endless!"

"When it began we looked through the Gap to find an answer," the wrinkled man muttered, "But there is nothing beyond the Gap."

The Doctor immediately perked up, "Beyond? You've been through that thing?"

"Travel through the Gap has always been possible," the grey man explained, "Some say that beyond the Gap is where we began."

"Aha!"

"Doctor?"

"Those levels of artron energy are far too high for a Rift that small, but it's not a Rift at all. It's a door."

Megan examined the Gap. The strange mass showed nothing of another side. "There's something through that? Like what?"

"Like the actual Rift. The place where all this energy came from. Rifts don't shrink, but portals! Portals can open and close like it's going out of fashion!"

He withdrew his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the Gap. "The TARDIS brought us here because of the abundance of fuel - this place was made to contain so much artron energy she mistook it for a Rift, but now the portal's closing the well's running dry, because the People keep using it up."

Megan's gaze flicked between him and the Gap. "Wait a second. We're going through, aren't we?"

"I don't know. Travel through the Gap has always been possible for the People, but for non...People. Time Lords, humans? I genuinely don't know."

She stepped forwards, so she stood as his side. "Only one way to find out then?"

"You're getting the hang of this," said the Doctor, with a sly smile, "Trusting your tour guide now?"

"Reluctantly, yeah."

"Haha! Alright then," the Doctor whirled back to the wrinkled man, "We're off to find out what's closing that Portal. Pop the kettle on, we'll be back for tea."

Both of the People tilted their heads. "Of course you don't have kettles," muttered the Doctor, frowning, "Ah well. Come along Megan."

They approached the Gap, stopping a foot away. The consuming darkness brought a clammy sweat to Megan's brow. "Is it okay to be having second thoughts about this?"

The Doctor took her hand, and met her wavering determination with a gentle face. Unlike his past assurances, this steeled her resolve. "Of course it is."

"Right, right."

They took a step forward in unison. Then another, and another, until The Doctor's prominent chin just barely scratched the Gap.

"Geronimo!" he whispered, and they took the plunge.


End file.
